“Abstruse evolution” 2008
Acrylic on wood
48”x48” (122x122cm)
The evolution of mankind seems superficial, when at times the human race behaves like an animal…these words of the artist, efficiently sums up the premise of the exhibition. It questions the notion of progress according to Darwin. This anthropologist categorized the Homo-erectus (the first man who stood erect) as superior to the Paleolithic-Australopithecus man (whose spine was bent like an ape’s). Padwal questions this ‘absolute truth’. He does this through a schematic use of steel grids and metal blocks familiar to construction sites. The artist challenges urbanization and the blind quest for bigger, faster, better, stronger. The tunnel vision of this approach is evident in the environmental degradation and the ever widening schism between the elite and the proletariat.